in the news 1952
PART THIRTEEN
Top Picture: Harry G. Barnes, center, with fellow radar-control operators at Washington, D.C.'s National Airport. Barnes had been lead operator on the night of July 19/20 as well as the night of July 26/27. On both occasions unidentified aerial objects were picked up on radar simultaneously with the sighting of unidentified aerial lights, spotted both from the air and from the ground. Bottom Picture: 142nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron pilots responsible for aerial defense of the Capitol. Stories below.
NINETEEN FIFTY-TWO might be remembered for many things, large and small. The election of Dwight Eisenhower as President of the United States. Fifty thousand American families afflicted by Polio. The British A-bomb. The first issue of Mad magazine. The theory of the Big Bang.
But for those of a certain bent, 1952 will also be remembered for the second great 'flying saucer flap' which climaxed with the reports of radar and visual sightings over the nation's capital in late July.
Part of the story of that event-filled year is now available in declassified government files. But for the public back then -- at a time when only one in three families in America had a television set -- the story was mostly found in the newspapers and magazines.
This then is a look back at those stories, as they first appeared in print...
JULY 29, 1952:
Eau Claire, Wisconsin Daily Telegram - 29 Jul 52
'Saucer' Chasers Alerted -- Jet plane pilots of the 142nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron based at New Castle, Del., are shown standing on the flight line discussing the order putting them on the alert to chase "flying saucers" seen often recently over the nation's capital. Left to right, the three pilots are Lt. F. Lamar Watson, Lt. John Fagan and Capt. John C. Casey. They are among the pilots who pursued the mysterious objects over Washington Saturday and reported that their F-94 planes, flying 600 miles per hour, could not overtake the saucers. (UP Telephoto)
Chester, Pennsylvania Times - 29 Jul 52
RADAR CONTROL ROOM of C.A.A. at Washington airport tracked the strange objects on the large scope in center foreground. It shows position of aircraft within a radius of 70 miles.
Saucers Are Something: 3 Radar Sets Report Identical Sightings
WASHINGTON -- The flying saucers are back.
And their return to the headlines has been the result of a startling new development.
For the first time, numerous and simultaneous visual sightings have been positively confirmed by official Civil Aeronautics Administration radar observations. This has happened twice under almost identical circumstances on two successive Saturday nights.
Up until now official and unofficial saucer debunkers have produced credible theories to explain away reports of visual sightings as natural phenomena. They have done the same for individual radar sighting reports.
But none of this reasoning satisfactorily explains away visual sightings absolutely confirmed by radar.
This remarkable new chapter in the weird flying saucer story was written in the skies over Washington for six hours before dawn on Sunday, July 20, and again one week later. The details and implications of what took place are now confirmed by CAA and the Air Force.
Since then the Air Force has quietly said it was closing to the press its special section at Wright Field in Dayton, O., which has been studying flying saucer reports. In addition, all information concerning that group's personnel, activities and budget is now strictly classified.
Full details of what happened the first night are being revealed for the first time by NEA Service.
These are the facts:
Beginning shortly after midnight, and continuing until dawn, eight experienced CAA radar operators and technicians, manning the air route traffic control center in hanger No. 6 at National Airport, tracked from seven to ten unidentifiable and mysterious objects performing strange gyrations in the skies in a 30-mile radius above Washington.
Harry G. Barnes, who has been with CAA for nine years, mostly in radar work, was in charge of the group. After making sure that the objects were not known aircraft and that the radar was operating perfectly, he checked his findings with the radar operators in the control tower. They instantly confirmed what he saw, and continued to do so. The two radars are completely separate units.
Later the radar at nearby Andrews Air Force base also confirmed the sightings.
 When the center radar showed one of the unidentified objects in a low position in the northwest sky, the operators in the tower were able to see it. One of them, Howard Cocklin, who has been with CAA for five years, describes it:
"It was a good-sized light, yellow to orange in color. At first it looked like a great big star. Then it began to move in a manner which made you realize it couldn't be a star. There was no unusual high speed about its movements and at times it seemed to hover. We could see it moving around like that for about 15 minutes. It just disappeared into the northwest sky."
There are no windows in the center Barnes was operating. None of the eight men could leave to go outside to try to check their own radar sightings visually.
 As is normal at that time air traffic was very light. But at the first opportunity an operator in Barnes' office contacted Capital Airlines pilot Capt. S.C. Pierman shortly after he took off and asked him to look for the objects.
For about 14 minutes, Pierman was in direct, two-way communication with Barnes. While he was within radar range, Pierman was able to see six objects which showed up on the path indicated by the center's radar. Pierman's sightings reported to Barnes coincided exactly with the radar sightings, Barnes reports.
Pierman is a 17-year veteran of commercial flying and is described by Capital Airlines officials as very level-headed and "taciturn." After he landed in Detroit Pierman had this to say about the sightings:
"In my years of flying I've seen a lot of falling or shooting stars -- whatever you call them -- but these were much faster than anything like that I've ever seen. They were moving too fast for that. They were about the same size as the brighter stars. And they were much higher than our 6,000-foot altitude. I couldn't estimate the speed accurately. Please remember I didn't speak of them as flying saucers -- only very fast moving lights."
Charles Wheaton, first officer on the flight with Pierman, a veteran of 12 years of flying confirms Pierman's sightings and adds:
"Before the other night, I always discounted alleged flying saucers as atmospheric phenomenon. But now I feel I have actually seen some active strange objects which defy explanation."
Another Capital Airlines pilot also reported seeing a light off his wing, which showed up in that position on the radar scope. Other pilots in the air that night, Barnes reveals, appeared to be reluctant to discuss the subject with him on the radio.
The mystery of the flying saucers had its start on June 24, 1947, when a Boise, Idaho, businessman, Kenneth Arnold, flew his private plane over the jagged peaks of Washington's Mt. Ranier. When he landed, he breathlessly reported having seen "a chain of nine saucer-like objects playing tag at fantastic speeds."
Since then there have been thousands of sightings all over the world, many obviously reported by crackpots. But a substantial number have been so strange and reliably described, even the Air Force has had to admit that they were unexplainable.
Many books have been written on the subject. Hundreds of magazine articles have treated all aspects of the question. However, a review of most of what has been written and officially reported on the subject points up several unique aspects to the recent Washington sightings:
It's the first time that three separate radar sets have reported identical sightings.
It's the first time they have remained under observation in one area for so long a time.
It's the first time so many completely responsible men, including radar operators and pilots, all observed and reported the same thing at the same time, with all reports checking so accurately.
Both nights there were scores of unofficial stories of persons in the area who claim to have seen one or more strange lights moving about in the sky.
Saul Pett, a news service reporter in River Edge, N.J., wrote a detailed story on one that he saw just before seven objects appeared on the CAA radar screen at National Airport. He said:
"It looked like a sphere, so deeply orange colored that it appeared almost the shade of rust. It was silent as death. It was moving too fast and evenly to be a balloon. I saw a flying saucer and you can't convince me that there is no such animal."
He said it disappeared in the direction of Washington.
LARGE RADAR SCOPE at Washington National Airport presents a picture like this to CAA traffic controllers. Mystery pips were tracked from midnight until dawn on the first night.
The Air Force has the responsibility of finding out what there is to the saucer reports. After two years' study it finally reported in 1950:
"All evidence and analyses indicate that the reports of unidentified flying objects are the result of: (1) Misinterpretation of various conventional objects; (2) a mild form of mass hysteria; (3) or hoaxes."
Lt. Col. DeWitt R. Searles, an Air Force press officer, was given the job of officially denying the existence of saucers from then on. His file on the subject was labeled "death of the saucers."
On June 17 of this year, however, Col. Searles was forced to reveal a slight alteration in the Air Force stand on saucers. He issued a statement which said:
"No concrete evidence has yet reached us to either prove or disprove the existence of the so-called flying saucers. However there remain a number of sightings which have not been satisfactorily explained. As long as this is true the Air Force will continue to investigate flying saucers reports."
Air Force reaction to the recent Washington sightings has been curious, and its reports have been conflicting. A few minutes after CAA confirmed its sightings on the 20th it reported the fact to the Air Force in a normal but classified procedure.
For the next several days the Air Force claimed that its radar at nearby Andrews Air Force base did not confirm the findings of the CAA radar. Later, however, the Air Force reversed itself and admitted that the Andrews radar did pick up the objects, four hours after the first CAA report.
On July 20, then, the strange objects appeared on three separate radar sets for two hours. A week later the Air Force admitted that its Andrews radar had practically identical sightings to the other two all evening.
The first night no fighter planes went aloft to investigate the sightings. A week later, however, the Air Force sent up jets to try to get a closer look at the objects.
The only report from the fighter pilots was that they saw strange lights, moving too fast for the 600 mph jets to intercept.
Another conflicting Air Force report concerns a saucer expert from the now barricaded unit at Dayton, Capt. E.J. Ruppelt. He "happened" to be in town at the time. An AF spokesman said that he would interview all of the persons involved in the sightings.
A week later, however, Capt. Ruppelt had left town and had not contacted a single one of the CAA persons involved. Col. Searles reported that he had taken a copy of Barnes' brief summary report in long hand over the telephone next day. That constitutes the Air Forces' only official recognition of the events of the 20th. The AF, however, now promises to make a thorough investigation of the events of both nights.
In the unofficial category of saucer study is the theory of Dr. Donald H. Menzel, a Harvard professor of astrophysics. It seems to have had most effect in debunking saucer reports among the experts. He says visual sightings could be ordinary lights which are reflected from warm layers of air. And he says radar can produce a false pip in the same way.
According to several experts in Washington, who asked not to be quoted, Menzel's theory does not account for the simultaneous visual and radar sightings.
Further, it isn't likely that any warm layer of reflecting air would have remained constant for so long a period over Washington that night.
Coincidental with the recent Washington sightings and increased reports of saucer sightings all over the U.S. this summer, has been increased rumors around the Pentagon and from other government agencies attempting to explain saucers. And they appear to be coming from more reliable sources, although these sources continue to refuse to let themselves be identified.
Most persistent rumor is that Boeing Airplane Co. in Seattle, is either making flying saucers or has been in charge of the engineering of the project. The rumor goes that very small parts of the saucers are being made by widely scattered subcontractors and that the finished items are being assembled at some remote site.
A Boeing spokesman in Seattle flatly denies this rumor, as does the Air Force.
The descriptions of the saucers which have been sighted indicates that some radically new source of power would be needed to make the objects move as fast as they did.
If this is true it doesn't make sense that the Air Force would be expending such a tremendous effort to improve its present jet engines, which would be made completely obsolete by the new source of power. Nor would the Air Force be likely to have its saucers practice maneuvers early Sunday morning around Washington.
In the weirder category of rumors is the one that the saucers are either Russian-built or from another planet and that several of them have crashed and have been picked up by the Air Force. It goes on to theorize that the Air Force has been able to repair some of them and make them operate and at the same time is trying to build some of its own just like them.
This would account for the Air Force being extremely interested in some sightings, and apparently very disinterested in others.
Col. Searles, who has had more experience in denying saucer rumors than anyone in the Pentagon, just laughs at this idea.
But nobody is really laughing at the strange objects tracked by radar over the nation's capital.
Chester, Pennsylvania Times - 29 Jul 52
Radar Employee Tells of 12 Objects Seen on Radarscope
Editor's note -- Forty-eight hours of intensive investigation has failed to explain radar and visual observation of unidentified objects accompanied by brilliant white and colored lights on two successive weekends over Washington. The so-called "saucers" were seen on both Air Force and Civil Aeronautic Authority radarscopes.
How the CAA sightings were made is described in the following article by a civilian radar specialist.
By JAMES M. RITCHEY,
Radar Specialist,
Washington Control Center
WASHINGTON -- Until unidentified objects began moving onto our radarscopes, I thought people who reported "flying saucers" were just seeing things.
Now I don't know what to think. I have talked to representatives of the Air Force, and they say they can't explain the appearance of the flying objects.
Neither can we. All we can do is tell you what we saw on our instruments, and what the air force and commercial pilots reported when they tried to investigate.
It was 9:08 p.m. Saturday when the latest unidentified objects -- we called them targets -- moved onto our scopes from the northwest. These objects were about 30 miles from the airport when we first made contact with them.
12 Objects Spotted
We spotted 12 objects, and judged that they were moving in a southeasterly direction at a speed of about 40 miles per hour. The air force sent some jet planes up to investigate, and we helped "vector" the pilots toward the objects.
I should explain here that our radarscope is about two feet in diameter. When it showed a "blip" -- contact with a substance in the sky -- we placed a plastic marker on the spot.
The radar beam swings around in a great circle, and when it returns to the same area it will make another contact with the same object. If the object has moved, we move the marker, and after a number of repetitions we can determine the object's direction and approximate speed.
When we "vector" a plane onto the object, we are in radar contact with both the object and the plane, and also in radio contact with the pilot of the plane. We keep telling the pilot how to turn to approach the object until he makes a sighting.
The first jet pilot to go up Saturday night reported that he sighted a steady white light that appeared to be about 10 miles distant. When he tried to draw closer, the light disappeared.
A commercial pilot got much closer to one of the objects, and reported to us that he sighted a yellow light that appeared to turn red and then back to yellow again. He reported to us that the object appeared to be about two miles away and to be flying parallel with him. Radar confirmed that he was between two and three miles from the object.
A third pilot sighted two bluish lights, and later five more white lights. Our radar continued to show unidentified objects through the night, until 6 a.m. the next morning, but the pilots did not get any closer to them.
The "blips" on our radar were not similar to those sometimes caused by storm clouds. I don't think the objects were balloons or anything moving with the wind, because their speed was greater than that of the wind. I don't see how they could have been ducks, geese, or any kind of night birds -- these can be picked up on radar, but that wouldn't explain the lights.
As I said, I just don't have an explanation, and neither does anyone else as far as I know.
Ruston, Louisiana Daily Leader - 29 Jul 52
Flying Saucers Seen Over Washington For 2nd Time In 4 Days
Washington, D.C., saw flying saucers again for six hours early today.
Eight to 12 objects showed on radar screens, flying a 10-mile arc around the capital. Radarmen estimated the objects, or flying saucers, were clipping along at about 120 miles per hour.
The last time the saucers were spotted over Washington, on Saturday, the air force sent jet fighters up to chase them, and when the word of the new appearance was flashed around, it was expected that the jets would be ordered up again, to try to shoot down the objects.
But the jets stayed on the ground. An air defense official explained, "We were too busy with other things, and besides objects [sic] aren't hurting anybody."
However, civil aeronautics officials did direct an Eastern air lines pilot to check the objects as he flew over the city. But the pilot didn't see a thing. The officials said the saucers disappeared from the radar screen when the plane reached the area where they had been tracked.
So it remains a mystery.
The second appearance of the saucers in four days leaves the experts just as stumped as ever. Some think the saucers are space ships from another planet. Some think they're just natural phenomenon we haven't figured out yet.
The air force doesn't know what to think. But it's determined to find out. Top scientists have been called in to launch a major investigation.
The appearance of the saucers over Washington has touched off a rash of similar reports from around the nation. Dozens of Indiana state police report seeing the saucers near the town of Atterbury, Ind.
And three persons at Casper, Wyo., report they've seen a flying saucer "as big as a quarter moon."
One of the three, Joe Mooney, watched the object through field glasses. "It looked kind of kidney-shaped," he said. "I could see the top side clearly, but the bottom was fuzzy like it was spinning."
Lima, Ohio News - 29 Jul 52
Radar Screens Buzzing With "Saucer" Signals
WASHINGTON -- The government radar station at Washington National Airport today recorded "scores" of unidentified objects traveling at speeds of 90 to 120 miles an hour and the air force sought a new way to solve the 1952 "flying saucer" mystery.
Civil Aeronautics officials said the radar sightings were almost continuous from 2:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. (EST) and that as many as 12 objects showed on the screen simultaneously.
But because no visual confirmation could be obtained, jet fighters, on a 24-hour "flying saucer" alert, were not sent aloft to investigate.
The air force, which has scheduled a late-afternoon news conference on the "saucer" mystery, disclosed it turned to a new type camera when 600-mile-an-hour jet planes were unable to catch up with the strange objects sighted in eastern skies in recent days.
Jet pilots are operating under a 24-hour nation-wide "alert" to chase the mysterious objects and to "shoot" them down" if they ignore orders to land.
However, the air force confessed that none of its jets have come within shooting range of the blinking, enigmatic flying discs.
Several pilots, according to the air force, have tried to shoot down the mysterious sky phantoms but the "steady bright lights" in the sky have outflown the pilots by as much as a thousand miles an hour.
An AF spokesman said a new type camera may be able to bring the mystery to an end. He said the camera photographs "luminous phenomenon." It uses the principle employed by astronomers in determining the composition of stars. Air force scientists hope to determine the physical makeup of the phenomenon and identify its source.
Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, chief of air force intelligence, said the new type cameras have been ordered and will be distributed to jet plane pilots as soon as they become available.
Meanwhile, as new reports continued to pour into the Pentagon of more sightings of mysterious objects the air force summoned several "saucer" specialists from Dayton, Ohio, for a conference today.
Called to Washington were Capt. E.J. Ruppelt and several fellow officers from the air technical intelligence center at Wright-Patterson Field.
The air force said it is receiving new reports of "flying saucers" at the rate of 100 a month. The air force contended that its intensive investigation of more than 1,000 "saucer" reports has convinced it that they are not being sent over the United States by an enemy.
The AF added that its investigation indicated also that they are not being controlled by "a reasoning body."
An AF spokesman said no special significance is attached to the fact that objects over Washington have been picked up on radar over the past two weeks. He said an ionized electrified cloud or any of the many objects which have caused "saucer" reports, including weather balloons, could be picked up on radar.
Pittsfield, Mass. Berkshire Evening Eagle - 29 Jul 52
AF Calls in Physicists As New 'Saucers' Fly
WASHINGTON -- Mysterious objects swooped over the nation's capital again early today and the Air Force called in top scientists to find out what "flying saucers" are.
Seen on CAA Radar
The Civil Aeronautics Administration traffic control center reported that its radar picked up the objects for about six straight hours early this morning.
The objects, a CAA official said, were traveling about 100 to 120 miles an hour in a 10-mile arc around the capital, between Herndon, Va., and Andrews Air Force Base in near-by Maryland.
It was in this same area that radar screens recorded the strange "targets" the past two Saturday nights, setting off a new rash of "flying saucer" rumors in the capital.
Top Air Force brass has decided to get to the bottom of the mystery. Forsaking an earlier altitude that "there ain't no such animal," they are enlisting top scientists in a major new saucer study.
8-12 Objects at Once
A CAA official said the control center radar first started picking up the strange "blips" about 1:30 AM and that they continued showing up on the radarscope until 6 AM. At some time, he said, there were as many as 8 to 12 of the objects on the scope at the same time.
A pilot aboard an Eastern Air Lanes Constellation was directed to check on the objects about 3 AM, but he reported he saw no lights despite a 15-mile visibility. The CAA official said the objects disappeared from the radar screen when the plane was in the area where they had been tracked and "then came back in behind him."
No jets from the Air Defense Command were sent up to chase the new objects as on Saturday. Then a jet pilot reported sighting "steady white lights" but said his 600-mile-an-hour jet was unable to "close in."
Asked why the Air Defense Command had not been alerted, the CAA official said "we were too busy with other things and besides those objects aren't hurting anybody."
The official said the objects appeared much the same as on last Saturday night except that there was not "quite as much definition" to the "blips." He described the "blips" as the same kind as made by an airplane but with "lighter intensity."
Physical Phenomena
The Air Force will rely primarily on physicists for its "flying saucer" investigation. This is in line with a tentative opinion already reached in some Air Force circles that variously described mystery objects in the sky actually are physical phenomena, however imperfectly understood up to now, rather than actual flying disks.
Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, Air Force director of intelligence, meanwhile went into a second day of "saucer" conferences with his experts. He was expected to hold a news conference late today to give latest available details on what these things are that people see zipping through the sky.
Air Force spokesmen insisted there was no military secrecy veiling the quest for "saucer" data. Any seeming reluctance to give out information was based unhappily on ignorance, not on military security, they said.
Sources who have followed the "saucer" saga through five years, asserted with renewed vigor that the glowing, vari-colored objects sighted visually all over the land, and recently by radar, are not secret aircraft or weapons developments.
Short shrift was being given, too, to the idea that the whirling disks were ethereal, extra-terrestrial, inter-planetary or of Communist persuasion.
Sightings so far unexplained and increasingly regarded as physical phenomena "show no pattern which would indicate that the objects are being controlled by a reasoning body," the Air Force said.
Abilene, Texas Reporter-News - 29 Jul 52
Air Force Alerted 'for Months,' Not Just Since 'Saucers' Seen
WASHINGTON, July 28 -- The Air Force said tonight the current series of "flying saucer" reports has brought no change in its 24-hour a day program to challenge any unidentified and potentially hostile object in the skies over the United States.
Unidentified objects were spotted on radar screens at the Washington National Airport this week end.
Reports of the sightings reached the Air Force and jet fighter-interceptor planes made a search of the Washington area. One pilot reported seeing "lights" which he was never able to overtake.
DEFENSE ORGANIZED
In the wake of the Washington development there were published reports that the Air Defense Command had been organized on an emergency basis to pursue any unidentified object in the skies.
An Air Force official tonight said its defense command has been ready for many months to challenge any unknown object aloft.
Air Force interceptors and pilots started the continuous watch on a limited basis before the start of the Korean War, the official pointed out.
At the outset the watch was confined to the sky areas over such key targets as atomic plants. Later, after the hostilities in Korea increased the threats of an all-out war and as more fast-climbing jets became available, the Air Force gradually extended the 24-hour watch across the northern and the coastal sectors of the nation. The continuous state of readiness now extends to the air space above all areas of the country which contain vital military or industrial installations.
The Air Force spokesman said that every time the "flying saucer" reports gain a new lease on life there are statements that jet interceptors have been given the special mission of chasing the aerial objects.
Despite the renewed flurry of excitement about the unidentified objects, the Air Force maintained its stand that it still doesn't know whether any such thing actually exists. For several years Air Force technical and intelligence experts have methodically studied and then filed away all "flying saucer" reports that have been passed on to them. The analysis of these studies has come up with no answer to date.
Tucson, Arizona Daily Citizen - 29 Jul 52
All These People Claim That They DID See 'Em
The "Flying Saucer" epidemic reached a new peak today.
In cities and towns from coast to coast residents reported seeing strange objects flitting across the sky last night.
But as usual nobody knew for sure what they were, and the descriptions varied widely.
Reports of "saucers" have kept police, air force and weather bureau telephones jangling for several days recently in widely scattered localities.
At Los Angeles, several persons last night reported spotting a round, luminous object streaking eastward over the city at a terrific speed.
The observers claimed the object resembled a comet without a tail.
Walter Babychuk, 28, a World War II pilot, said he caught a glimpse of the object streaking over his Silver Lake home.
I'm not an authority on such things," he said, "nor am I trying to cause hysteria. But I think I've had enough flying experience to know it wasn't a weather balloon or lights playing on clouds."
Some saucer reports recently have turned out to be weather balloons or searchlight reflections. At Miami Beach, Fla. Mr. and Mrs. R.P. Goldstein said they saw a glowing object hang motionless in the sky, then flit away "hundreds of times faster than any plane we've ever seen."
At Key West, Fla., the navy said it was investigating accounts by several sailors who said they saw a "saucer" while attending an outdoor movie.
Thomas W. Sortor at Hollywood Beach, Fla., reported seeing a brilliant orange ball "hanging about 2,000 feet up" early Sunday. He said it "wobbled" a moment, then disappeared to the east over the Atlantic.
Near Cleveland, Ohio, three observers of "Operation Skywatch" reported spotting floating lights which rapidly changed color and dodged in and out of clouds, finally vanishing to the south.
Alan Dumas, former air force photographer at Scott Field, Ill., who now lives in Culver City, Calif., revealed today that he took a picture of what he described as something that looked like "two straw hats pasted together brim-to-brim."
Dumas said the picture was taken June 1, 1951, at 3:15 p.m. when the object zoomed out of the north, did a flip over the airport and then sped off to the east.
Dumas said the flight from horizon to horizon lasted "no more than 20 seconds." He said the object was also witnessed by airmen in the field's control tower on the flight line.
He happened to be on the flight line with a camera when the black object raced across the sky and took a quick shot at it with his camera.
The sighting was reported to intelligence at Scott air force base, he said, but was explained as possibly a "weather balloon or a conventional jet plane."
Dunkirk, New York Evening Observer - 29 Jul 52
Saucers Seen In Chautauqua Lake District
Flying saucer excitement occurred in the Chautauqua lake area Sunday afternoon.
But the man who saw them is not confused. He reported that the objects were guided missiles.
Charles McCrea of Belleview described his discovery of four silver-colored round objects whizzing through the sky over his home at 4 p.m.
Mr. McCrea was lying on his back on the lawn at his home with his three children when he spotted the objects. They were traveling so fast, he said, that before he could call the children's attentions to the mysterious objects, they were gone.
He described the "saucers" as "dimes rolling across the sky." The four objects were flying in an L-shaped formation and all were traveling at the same high rate of speed. Mr. McCrea could not estimate their height.
The speeding saucers were accompanied by the sound of four "swishes." He declared that the sound was not that of a jet plane.
Albuquerque, New Mexico Tribune - 29 Jul 52
Navy Checking 'Fiery Object'
KEY WEST, Fla. -- Navy officials said today "we're investigating thoroughly" reports of a fiery object that streaked across the sky at 8:45 p.m. Saturday.
The USS Greenwood, a destroyer escort, was sent to sea but officers would not elaborate.
Hundreds of sailors reported seeing the object Saturday night while watching an outdoor movie. One witness described it as a 40-foot long solid white light zooming across the sky from north to south. He said it made no sound.
"There may be something to it," said a Navy officer, "but it's so hush-hush there aren't many of us who know anything."
A week ago tonight four persons reported seeing a "fiery ball" in the sky over Key West and a Navy man said that object stopped and started several times before it disappeared.
Chester, Pennsylvania Times - 29 Jul 52
Chester Man Thinks He Saw Flying Saucer
What he believes was one of the mysterious flying saucers has been observed by Frank Lutz, 38, 502 w. 4th St., he reported to the Times today.
Lutz, a welder at Rheem Manufacturing Co., Lester, said he saw a bright light following a large air transport plane as it flew over Chester one night last week. From his vantage point on the front porch, Lutz watched the light, "which resembled a distant star," he said. He reported that it seemed to be flying at the same rate of speed as the plane, at about 200 yards off the left wing of the plane.
"I didn't think anything about it until I began reading all about these unidentified objects in the sky and now I'm sure that this was one of them -- whatever they are," he commented.
Titusville, Pennsylvania Herald - 29 Jul 52
Eyes See and Ears Hear Sky Things
Strange machines in the sky are giving area residents quite a show. More reports of queer aerial happenings filtered in yesterday.
The latest to see a pair of silver disks is George Miller of Titusville, Route 1. One swooped down to an estimated 1,500 feet above him before it was overhauled by a second which appeared to spread a vapor which blotted both from view.
Early yesterday morning a group of Titusville residents watched for nearly an hour as a slowly moving light in the sky drifted and turned until it finally dimmed and went out.
More confirming reports came to The Herald about flying objects which had been seen in other localities over the week-end. The observers agreed on several points about the traveling disks: that they are silver, round or nearly so, and also flat. When the objects roam low enough they appear to hum or whine at a high pitch. When they are on edge they have a dark rim. Peculiar rib-like construction in the form of several "V's" together have been seen on one side of the flat disk.
And when they leave, they seem to go like a streak of light too fast for the human eye to see.
Accounts Support Each Other
The persons who reported the objects to The Herald had not communicated with each other, but their reports were nearly the same concerning the characteristics of the disks.
Mr. Miller, a confirmed skeptic about black panthers and the like says now he is fully convinced there are mysterious machines flitting about the vicinity sky.
"I saw them," he said.
He was on the Brown lease on the Spring Creek road about eight miles from Titusville at 3:15 p.m. Sunday when he heard a hum in the air. He was in rather thick woods but when he came to a clearing he saw a round disk coming in at a 30-degree angle from the north. He said:
"It seemed to be 1,500 feet up. While I was watching it it curved, went over on one edge and headed toward Titusville.
"Then another one came on the scene, more of an oblong shape. It barreled over the first -- they didn't seem to be more than 10 or 15 feet apart -- and they disappeared at once. But I could still hear the hum of a motor, like an airplane in a power dive.
"They were silver in color. The oblong one seemed to have a couple short wings on it like a butterfly. It overtook the round one like nothing, looped over it a couple times and then both disappeared. I figure the second one had some vapor that would hide both, because after they disappeared I could still hear the hum.
"The disks seemed to be pin-wheeling. From where I was they were about four feet thick, and seemed to have a dark ring around the center. They were flat on both sides and looked about 20 feet across. One side looked like it had ribs on it, but they didn't project out.
"The sky was very clear and I could see both very distinctly until the one rolled over the other.
"What do I think it was? Oh, I definitely think it was man-made because I could hear the motors. No, I don't think it was a spaceship. Russia may be making them and they are mapping the country."
Mrs. William Orum, Jr., of Titusville, Route 1, lives on the Mystic Park road northwest of Hydetown. She got an excellent view of the two round objects which Mr. and Mrs. Harry Ridgway saw for about 15 seconds Saturday morning.
Her daughter, Larenia, aged 6, was playing in the yard when she screamed to her mother to "come out and see the big ball."
Mrs. Orum said there were two objects high in sky which were about the size of soup bowls. One was in front of the other and they zig-zagged through the air. Then they turned on one side and were nearly invisible.
"All of a sudden," the housewife said, "there was a real bright streak through the air like lightning and they disappeared. The light was so bright it made my eyes burn.
"They were silver in color and looked like bright aluminum."
Planes Had Passed Over
Mrs. Orum said others thought they heard a hum or motor noise but she can't be certain on that point. Two large planes had passed over shortly before and they might have still been in hearing, she said.
The two objects were not moving fast at first. She had time to call the attention of others to them between 10:15 and 10:30 before they streaked out of sight. They appeared to be 10 to 12 inches across at their height in the sky.
"I positively don't think they were balloons," Mrs. Orum declared. "At least, not like any balloons I ever saw. You could see the round things were flat when they made a sudden flip-flop and turned over."
Still another pair of disks were reported over the Breedtown district Friday evening about 8:30. Mrs. Glenn Patterson of Titusville, Route 3, and her sister, Mrs. M.A. Paup of Shamburg, were outside when they saw the objects flying side by side to the southwest.
The two disks were round and appeared to have a "V" through the middle. They were very high and sped above the clouds and were gone out of sight in seconds.
A strange light in the sky was spotted by Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Lord of 305 North Fourth Street when they were coming into the city from the Auto Drive-In theater about 1:30 a.m. yesterday.
Watched Light a Long Time
They saw the light when they left the theater and watched it on their way to Titusville. Then they woke up their neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Brink of 303 North Fourth Street, and both couples watched the light. Soon others were there looking.
The observers said the light would glow in the sky toward the east for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. Then it seemed to dim, as if the object was turning around, then it would get bright again. However, the light did not blink on and off in pulsations such as running lights on an airplane.
Further, the reddish-tinted light did not seem to move much from its position at a moderate angle in the eastern sky. But as the people noted its position in relation to roof tops and trees they could discern movement slowly to the north.
Employees of The Herald on their way home at 2:30 a.m. also saw the light. At first it looked like a bright star, but it had a peculiar cast to its light and was definitely moving. As they drove to North Perry Street hill for a better vantage point, the men saw the light begin to go quite rapidly to the northwest until it blinked out of sight.
One police officer also saw the mysterious light in the sky. Michael Kurtich of 324 West Fim Street said the extra bright star flickered as he watched it and also went up and down and from side to side.
Portsmouth, Ohio Times - 29 Jul 52
'Flying Saucer' Reports Pick Up Here, Too
The new "flying saucer" epidemic has brought a number of such sights in the Portsmouth area in recent weeks.
No one, of course -- not even the viewers -- knows what actually was seen. It might have been a plane, a weather balloon or the reflection of a light against the clouds.
Virtually all of the "saucers" have been sighted at night, when natural lights from the ground could have caused eerie reflections in the sky.
Latest to report a "flying saucer" -- without the aid of radar to confirm it -- was V.R. Smith of Wheelersburg. He said he saw the phenomenon at 4:30 a.m. July 21 while working at Detroit Steel Corp. Portsmouth Division.
After reading reports of sighted "saucers" in the Washington area, Mr. Smith said he decided to report his "find" for the record.
Mr. Smith, a steel mill inspector, said he was looking out a window toward Sciotoville when he spotted the "saucer" about midway between the horizon and straight overhead.
"It was diving at about a 45-degree angle in a southerly direction and was in sight a fraction of second before disappearing over the horizon," Mr. Smith said.
"It looked like a highly-polished silver ball and appeared to be about the size of a full moon. It wasn't flaming and didn't have a tail like a meteor."
Mr. Smith said he couldn't judge how far off the "saucer" was nor could he estimate its speed, except to say that its dive was "steady and fast."
Lima, Ohio News - 29 Jul 52
Ohioans Spot Saucers
AKRON, O. -- Five Akron residents reported sighting flying saucers over the city at about 11 p.m. Monday.
Valparaiso, Indiana Vidette-Messenger - 29 Jul 52
Air Filter Center Official Studying 'Saucer' Reports
SOUTH BEND -- The commanding officer of the Air Force filter center here said he is spending "a couple of hours every day" studying reports of "flying saucers over Indiana.
Capt. F.R. Shafer said the latest report came from Franklin, Ind., city police, state police and Johnson County Civil Defense Director Robert Wolfe.
Saturday night, a couple watched strange objects hover over a Mishawaka drive-in movie; an air defense observer saw them over his command post near Lafayette, and three women manning an observer post at Milroy saw them over Rush county.
Three objects over Franklin, according to Police Cap. Lee Sloan and Wolfe were blue, white and yellow.
They Travel Fast
"They traveled fast," Wolfe said. "They danced all over the sky. I've always been skeptical about flying saucers but there is no doubt there's something to these."
Charles Longstreet and Norman Mellis, state police troopers in separate cars miles apart in Shelby county reported seeing a strange object "like a star" moving back and forth and sometimes hovering in the air.
Wolfe reported to the filter center the objects were seen "at low altitude flying west over Camp Atterbury" about 3:15 p.m.
Shafer said he got a lengthy report on strange objects over Cairo, Ind., 10 miles north of Lafayette from Larry O'Connor, post supervisor. He said O'Connor had seen the objects almost nightly since July 18.
'Sort of Fiery'
"One object is sort of fiery," O'Connor said. "Sometimes it is red and sometimes it turns slowly white like it is heating up. The objects, O'Connor added, are arranged in the sky in a sort of "geometric pattern" and they do not dart about.
Shafer said the other reports, including one by Paul Kuhn of Mishawaka, described them as "bluish-white lights looking about the size of dinner plates and moving at terrific speed."
Kuhn watched them at the drive-in and said they moved in a V-shaped formation.
Shafer said "saucers" also were reported recently over Indianapolis and Marion. He said thus far no interceptor planes had been sent aloft over Indiana because nobody had been able to see the objects long enough in one place.
Hopkinsville, Kentucky New Era - 29 Jul 52
Object is Sighted Near Breckinridge
Hard on the heels of reports from Washington of more unidentified flying objects traced on radar screens, and of the sighting of three similar objects in south central Indiana, came a report of one sighted near Camp Breckinridge.
Elmer Chambers, of 125 So. Green Street, Henderson, said he saw the object early yesterday morning while on his way to Breckinridge, where he is employed as a civilian fireman.
Chambers said he saw the object near Waverly, and that he stopped and got out of his car to watch it. He described what he saw as a disc-shaped object. He said the top -- or bottom -- was turned toward him at times.
The object left two large vapor trails with two smaller parallel trails on each side of the larger ones, he stated.
Chambers said he immediately discounted the theory that it might have been a jet plane because it turned almost at right angles.
"It didn't turn in a circle like an ordinary airplane," he stated, "but would almost reverse itself."
Chambers said he watched the object from 8:05 until 8:25 a.m.
Winona, Minnesota Republican Herald - 29 Jul 52
Ettrick Skywatch Termed Success
ETTRICK, Wis. (Special) -- The first two weeks of "Operation Skywatch" has proved successful, according to Wayne Erickson, chief observer of the Ettrick observation post...
The Ettrick post is manned by men during the hours 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and by women from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. A call received from the Minneapolis filter center at 3 a.m. Monday reported a "flying saucer" in the area. The object, believed to be a balloon, was seen by Blair and Ettrick observers, and was reported to the filter center. On Sunday, during the watch of Mrs. Ruth Stone and Lucile Christianson, eight calls were made to the filter center, reporting 10 planes.
Madison, Wisconsin State Journal - 29 Jul 52
They're Also Out Where the Tall Corn Grows
DES MOINES, Ia. -- Police said Monday night several persons reported seeing flying saucers in the sky over Des Moines.
Police said a workman at the city sewage disposal plant reported seeing several objects. He said one object hovered in the sky over the point for some time, but apparently disappeared when an airplane passed over.
The man told police the object reappeared after the plane passed and others joined it.
Oelwein, Iowa Daily Register - 29 Jul 52
Iowans Sighting New Mysteries In Sky, CAA Reports
DES MOINES -- Several persons reported Monday night they saw strange objects in the sky, but a Newton man said they may have been a search light from a carnival there.
Lloyd Cook, night operator at the Des Moines sewage disposal plant, said he saw one object which seemed to hover over the plant.
At Waukon, four teen-agers who declined to identify themselves, said they were parked at the north edge of town and saw a bright flash in the sky about 9:30 P.M. Monday.
They said they observed the object for two or three minutes and said it appeared to be moving in an easterly direction.
San Antonio, Texas Express - 29 Jul 52
Weird Objects Also Sighted In San Antonio
Washington has nothing on San Antonio. Latest oddities sighted in the local skies were reported to San Antonio Express late Monday afternoon by E. Houston St. residents. Mr. and Mrs. S.E. Bedford, 2344 E. Houston, said they first noted a "funny-looking" airplane, of a type they had never seen before, flying north. As they watched it, their attention was attracted by a saucer-shape object, with what appeared to be a tail, moving south.
They called their neighbor, Mrs. O.J. Vazquez, and watched the silver-color object for about five minutes, till it vanished.
Rapid rise of the Planet Jupiter in the eastern sky shortly after midnight Sunday night was believed to have caused a report locally that another unidentifiable object or "flying saucer" had been spotted.
One report originated from Randolph Air Force Base where an airman on duty in the control tower said he saw a lighted object darting through the sky.
A C-97 Military Air Transport Service plane was taking off from Kelly A.F.B. about this time and the pilot, Capt. Samuel Tyson, heard the report on the radio. He said he started flying in that direction and traveled about 80 miles in some 20-minutes time.
He said that on the basis of observation made by him and the pilot they believed the object which had been seen was Jupiter, as at this time of the year the planet makes a rapid rise and is unusually bright.
A San Antonio couple, Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Bryant, 127 North Drive, reported seeing objects in the sky also Sunday night. They said they were flying high, zigging and zagging. They expressed hope that someone else saw them too, so they wouldn't feel ridiculous.
Bryant said he and his wife were in their back yard when six of the things -- brilliant, elongated and in the southwest, darting and dipping like a bird and going three times faster than a jet appeared. Then a seventh one returned from the opposite direction, he said. Bryant said they were in view only about 10 to 15 seconds.
Ogden, Utah Standard-Examiner - 29 Jul 52
Ogden Neighbors Watch 'Saucer' For 90 Minutes
"Saucers" also have been active locally, judging from reports of Ogdenites.
V.L. Beck of 1152 Rushton St., said he and eight or 10 neighbors watched a bright yellow object in the southwest skies for an hour and a half Saturday. He said it hung motionless like a light on a string for the most part, but occasionally darted sideways and up and down. "It would dim out and then brighten," he said.
A belated report also came from Lewis B. West, 516 6th St. He said he and his brother Grant West, on June 8 in the evening, watched "two gray metallic discs with silver edges" on the western horizon.
"They seemed to hover over the mountains, then would dart away and back at terrific speed."
West said he didn't immediately report his observations because he feared ridicule, but after reading so many saucer reports in the papers decided to call The Standard-Examiner.
Idaho Falls, Idaho Post-Register - 29 Jul 52
Seen At Weiser
WEISER, July 29 -- Two women reported Monday they saw a flying saucer over Weiser Saturday night.
Mrs. Oren Wilson of Weiser and Mrs. John Boyt of Portland said the object had a "bright green center with a coppery looking edge." They spotted it about 9:15 p.m. and said it seemed to grow brighter as it vanished to the north at a high rate of speed.
Idaho Falls, Idaho Post Register - 29 Jul 52
More Flying Objects Seen In Local Skies
People are seeing stars again!
Or was it a flying saucer? Maybe it was a meteor! At any rate James Sparks, 211 West Eighteenth street reported Monday he saw something in the sky.
"I was looking north about 9:40 p.m. Saturday when for about 30 seconds I saw an orange ball streaking across the sky."
He described the object as the most unusual thing that he had ever seen in his life. "It didn't resemble a meteor or a falling star," he added, "but it did have a slight tail."
"When I first saw it, the object was quite high and then gradually descended," he said. Other residents in the area also reported seeing a strange object.
Salisbury, Maryland Times - 29 Jul 52
Photographers Agree On How To Shoot Saucers
HOW WOULD you photograph "flying saucer" at night?
This was a matter of earnest discussion recently due to the experience of a seasoned reporter for AP Newsfeatures, Saul Pett.
Lolling comfortably on the porch of his New Jersey home, he was listening to the midnight news report one Saturday night. His attention was idly caught by a light which came into view in the skies.
"That's funny," he thought. "No light blinking on that plane. And what a peculiar glow!"
Suddenly he became alert, observant. He followed its straight path across the heavens until it was lost from view. He noted it seemed to have depth and was lighted as though from within. He judged it was visible for about a minute, maybe a minute and a half.
When he recounted his experience at the office on Monday morning, Saul took a lot of kidding. There were varied allusions as to the state of his hearing, vision and general sobriety.
"Why didn't you take a picture of it?" I asked him.
"Aside from the fact that I didn't have a camera loaded with film and ready to shoot," he replied, "I wouldn't know how to go about it."
That night in a report from Washington, the Air Force disclosed that National Airport radar operators had picked up unidentified objects on their radar screens around midnight of the past Saturday. At the same time they were sighted visually by two airline pilots aloft.
There's no harm in giving some thought to saucer photography. Obviously a camera must be handy and ready for instantaneous shooting at all times. Getting it, setting the lens wide open, the lens at infinity and preparing to shoot should be a matter of seconds only.
After discussion with several news photographers, it was agreed that shooting this luminous object at night was similar to taking pictures of an eclipse. This meant a steady support for the camera if it were not already on a tripod.
When the camera is aimed at the sky, it would be preferable to keep a landmark visible if possible -- such as a tree top, a roof, or a spire. Such a relationship is valuable, later on, in computing distance, altitude and possibly speed.
The shutter could be set on Time, Bulb, or a one-second exposure depending on which you could operate smoothly continuously for a series of exposures on the same negative. To avoid jarring the camera, the camera could be set on Time, the lens opened. Then use the lens cap, film slide or a piece of cardboard to cover the lens at intervals. Actually, you would be plotting the course of a luminous object across the film.
Depending on the brilliance of the object, it might barely be possible to take a single snap of the object at a tenth or a fifth of a second. It would be something to try, if time permitted, but much longer time exposures would be more likely to record something on the film.
If you wish to practice for the night when you might sight a glowing "light," nature and man have provided convenient stand-ins in the shape of the moon and passing airplanes. With the moon you can have plenty of time for unhurried preparation and calculations. Passing airplanes provide the elements of suspense and luck and will prove whether you can shoot a moving target with hair-trigger accuracy.
New Castle, Pennsylvania News - 29 Jul 52
New Type Camera May End 'Flying Saucers' Mystery
By DARRELL GALLWOOD
WASHINGTON. July 29 -- The Air Force, stumped by the inability of 600-mile-an-hour jet planes to catch "flying saucers," turned today to a new type camera to solve the five-year-old sky mystery.
Jet pilots are operating under a 24-hour nation-wide "alert" to chase the mysterious objects and to "shoot them down" if they ignore orders to land.
However, the Air Force confessed that none of its jets have come within shooting range of the blinking, enigmatic flying discs.
Outfly Jet Planes
Several pilots, according to the Air Force, have tried to shoot down the mysterious sky phantoms but the "steady bright lights" in the sky have outflown the pilots by as much as a thousand miles an hour.
An AF spokesman said a new-type camera may be able to bring the mystery to an end. He said the camera photographs "luminous phenomenon." It uses the principle employed by astronomers in determining the composition of stars. Air Force scientists hope to determine the physical makeup of the phenomenon and identify its source.
Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, chief of Air Force Intelligence, said the new type cameras have been ordered and will be distributed to jet plane pilots as soon as they become available.
Meanwhile, as new reports continued to pour into the Pentagon of more sighting of mysterious objects the Air Force summoned several "saucer" specialists from Dayton, Ohio, for a conference today.
New Castle, Pennsylvania News - 29 Jul 52
New Castle Lad Builds His Own Flying Saucer
Flying saucers are the main topic of conversation today, and some of the strange craft have been picked up by radar.
For 16-year-old Jack Natale, 6 East Cherry street, saucers have become a reality. He built one.
Or rather a model. Jack's version of a flying saucer is a flat base with a dome and jet exhausts protruding from the rear end. His model is 14 inches long in diameter. The body is of wood with an automobile headlight glass for the dome.
Asked why he built the saucer, Jack answered:
"It was for a history project. We had to make a model of something from the past or future. I built the saucer."
The New Castle high school student, who will be a senior this year, said it took about a month to make. He has plans for another model which, he hopes, will fly. To propel the next one Jack will use carbon dioxide cartridges. By piercing the cartridges the carbon dioxide, which is under pressure, creates enough push to race model racing cars today.
Jack's saucer is now grounded in the New Castle high school. He said he hadn't thought to report it before, but now with a new flurry of saucer sightings around, he remembered his own.
Phoenix, Arizona Republic - 29 Jul 52
Jets Put On Saucer Alert
24 Hour Watch To Blanket U.S.
Defense Interceptors Instructed To Take Off On Sight Of Discs
WASHINGTON, July 28 -- The air defense command alerted jet interceptor pilots Monday to take off instantly in pursuit of any "flying saucers" sighted anywhere in the country.
It acted after F-94 jets unsuccessfully chased "glowing white lights" seen in this area Saturday night. Mysterious objects also had been spotted the previous Saturday.
Air force spokesmen emphasized that because of the Soviet menace, interceptor planes are on 24-hour alert to investigate any unusual aerial objects.
The new saucer reports included unexplained appearances on radar screens, but the air force remained skeptical. It said the reports have shown "no pattern which would indicate the objects are being controlled by a reasoning body."
Statements by "eye witnesses," including air force and commercial pilots, are being studied and evaluated here and at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio. Meanwhile, interceptor planes are ready to go aloft at any time...
Pilot Spots Mysterious Lights
National Airlines Pilot J.E. Lundy, Jacksonville, Fla., said he had seen mysterious amber-colored lights last Saturday and the night of July 10 near Washington.
He said he was traveling at about 17,000 feet when he was directed to observe the phenomena by the airport radar operator here. He speculated the air force might be testing secret atomic aircraft.
The air force, which has repeatedly denied any such tests, said it has received more than 1,000 saucer reports in the past few years but "only a smaller percentage of those received from reliable sources remain unexplained."
It said the unexplained ones could be "misinterpretations of various conventional objects, a mild form of hysteria, meteorological phenomena or hoaxes."
The new flurry, the air force said, is similar to reports in the past and indicate no "threat to the United States." But it said "each report is being given a most careful and complete analysis."
Waukesha, Wisconsin Daily Freeman - 29 Jul 52
Editorial: Air Defense Puts 'Saucers' on Its List
The mystery of "flying saucers", which has hung over the country tor more than five years, has become even more baffling as the air defense command in Washington takes steps to pursue them. Until Saturday, when mysterious craft appeared on radar screens, no official recognition was given to them by the command, whose mission is air defense of the United States. But the nation's interceptor bases, including the one located at Truax field near Madison, are awaiting orders which will put flying saucers on the list of unidentified aircraft which, when spotted, must be chased.
This latest development raises all manner of conjecture and places official Washington in the position of one who has constantly preached against putting any faith in spooks and then finally comes face to face with several. Saturday night F-94 jets unsuccessfully chased "glowing white lights" that were seen in the Washington area after radar screens recorded their presence. But the jets, capable of cutting the air at more than 600 miles an hour, were soon out distanced and the pilots returned to their bases with nothing more than conflicting descriptions of what they had seen.
In the years that flying saucers have been making the headlines there have been many explanations. Some of the accounts have been debunked and many are the result of fanciful flights of the imagination, but substantial evidence is piling up that no longer can be denied. Early reports hinted that our own government was experimenting with aircraft of the future which had the appearance of aircraft, but this was put aside long ago. Even in the welter of inefficiency and bungling within the federal establishment it appears unlikely that one branch of the government would be attempting to chase experimental aircraft of another.
Another possibility has been explored over and over again by science magazines that have devoted many pages of pictures and descriptions to planetary ships making periodic visits to this globe. Some of these show the saucers as glowing discs which seem to change color as they alter their position, direction and angle. Those who have chased these phantom craft describe for the science writers how the saucers seem to hover in space like a humming bird and suddenly shoot off at any angle without turning in the direction they are going. In some cases only light is seen, but light alone would not register as a "blip" on a radarscope. Each new report either confirms an old one or adds new complications and additional mystery to the fund of knowledge that has been carefully studied since the first saucer stories were told in 1947.
Mysteries of the universe have captured man's attention for centuries and often it has been difficult for him to separate fact from fancy. A new star, an unknown planet, an approaching comet have been the cause of fear, excitement and wonderment. There is no reason to believe he has come to the end of this long line of mysteries simply because it is the 20th century according to his carefully kept calendar.
Notes:
1. Most Blue Book documents for the Washington National-Andrews AFB reports of July 26/27, 1952 consist of later summaries, which will be included in the upcoming entry Spotlight 1952: General Samford Meets The Press. However two short "Memos for the Record" concerning Capt. Ruppelt may be seen here.
2. The specific Los Angeles area sightings mentioned in the article "All These People Claim That They DID See 'Em" do not appear within Blue Book case files. There was a sighting at Los Angeles International Airport that same night which may be read here. That reported airport sighting took place approximately eight air miles southwest of the Silver Lake report mentioned in the article, though the Silver Lake report does not include a time for the reported sighting and so it is impossible to draw a correlation. The witnesses in the airport sighting were never interviewed by Air Force investigators.
3. None of the specific Indiana area sightings told in the article "Air Filter Center Official Studying 'Saucer' Reports" appear in Blue Book case files for Indiana for the period. However, one sighting for Saturday, July 26, does appear and may be read here.
|
|
Whether you need some serious styling for your walls at home or work or are on the lookout to give someone a special gift they'll treasure forever, you support the work of Saturday Night Uforia whenever you shop for great posters from AllPosters.com from any link at this site -- any, each, and every time you start your shopping from here. You still get the same great deal as your friends and family, but a little will be sent back our way as a thank you from AllPosters.com. And you'll have the extra satisfaction of directly supporting the work of Saturday Night Uforia while treating yourself or friends to something special... like any of these great sci-fi movie posters (you can even have them mounted, laminated, or framed). Just click on the pic for a larger version...
|
